Anatomy of a repeating scandal: Lessons in investigating a failed 1926 public works project

Some 96 years ago, on June 12, 1929, the Graphic magazine published an article titled The Tinkers’ Dam by M. San Martin.

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100 Years of Graphic

Anatomy of a repeating scandal: Lessons in investigating a failed 1926 public works project

Some 96 years ago, on June 12, 1929, the Graphic magazine published an article titled The Tinkers’ Dam by M. San Martin.

No Names, Strictly Personal

I found a 1929 Graphic issue at the National Library in Manila. Reading through it, one thing immediately stood out: Some articles were without bylines.

GRAPHIC ARCHIVE: “Those Who Skip in the Night”

While from the standpoint of a layman, government bureaus seem to be working smoothly the year around, still auditors detailed to look over records have unearthed grave anomalies that have existed for the past few years and yet kept secret by their directors.

The time outside our own

It was the 30th of July when I finally found the first-ever Graphic issue. Amid the careful sound of shuffling pages in the background that ran against the noise of my mouse clicks, I was sure that I paused for a long time admiring the cover displayed on the screen—dashes of striking red on the clothing of a Mindanao man riding a horse.

ARCHIVE: The Laoag-Vintar Dam Tragedy (1927 Graphic Article)

AUGUST 6, 1927 — IF THE Laoag-Vintar irrigation project has proved a disappointment to Representative Confesor and other public officials, it has, so far, proved nothing but a tragedy to the people to whom the government sought to extend a helping hand—the farmers and landowners of Vintar, Bacarra and Laoag, Ilocos Norte. Long before anybody ever thought of building such a thing as the Laoag-Vintar dam, the farmers of Vintar...

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It looks like it’s going to be a long haul when you scan the country, or even just this part of town, from the corner of Taft and Padre Faura—a long dazed journey, not to “Philippines 2000,” the splendiferous miracle promised FVR’s faithful a mere seven years from now, but to reality of NIChood probably a century hence.

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